I just spend some time yesterday on DpReview and wow lots of Nikon bashing going on there: Moving to Canon now, Nikon is going to fall behind etc. Special a fellow Dave has been bashing a lot lately: has 30,000+ worth of Nikon gear incl D3, D700 etc and he is now saying maybe I should move to Canon. I think he should move and start complaining in the Canon forum about Canon having issues with flash exposures and where is this great with angle zoom etc

Anyway what could Nikon at this moment have done better on the D3s

AF and metering system is simply on of the best you can get

They simply don't have a sensor between 12 and 24MP

I think 9 frames per second is properly the limit before you move to a system without a shutter/mirror

The video feature is the only real dark side, maybe Nikon should have drink with JVC and get them to help them with future SLR's to get 1080, 24 to 60 frames/sec etc and other video features on par with what is to be expected in a camcorder
Another thing, how would you should something like BMX with my 70 - 200 2.8. Holding the camera/lens in front of me is going to get somewhat heavy. What about this idea: have this option like the electronic viewfinder that you can mount on top of the new Panasonic GF1, with something like that attached to the hot shoe you should be able to shot in a normal way, just move the your camera slightly down(to align your eye with the electronic viewfinder) the heavy camera/lens combo should then be handling just like when shooting with the regular viewfinder in picture mode

Overall I still think this new D3s is the best events camera money can buy, special low light sports, hope to have one next year

People have been pampered by the fast development of the digital age and when there is a temporary stagnation in the development and no revolutionary new gadgets (beer bottle opener, cigar cutter/lighter, multitool, etc) don't make it every new version of a camera then all hell breaks loose.

I remember such continuous bashing from a couple of years ago when I was actively playing Battlefield 2 and the Total War series, and you get people ranting and bashing the game and when they're done bickering, they open up the very same game they were bashing seconds earlier and start playing.

People like Dave will remain complainers and bashers no mater in which party they are ... Nikon, Canon, Hasselblad, etc.

Slightly Off Topic:
CMOS tech has issues with line-read speeds. You could put a Intel i7 under the hood and if you can't read the sensor faster than 24fps you can't read the sensor faster than 24fps.
IF the current sensors Nikon uses were fast enough line readers to go 60fps you would likely not see any jello effect @ 24fps.
Therefore the safe conclusion is they can't without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

On Topic:
The camcorder style viewfinder isn't a bad idea - you have video out (does that work in video mode or for some reason only in liveview?) so you (someone) could make just that addon - would be a cool idea.

Soap: Canon's new 7D does do 60fps, but I was playing with it at work and just handling the camera with the 18-135 lens did not impress me much. Reviews will tell its IQ. Anyway Canon does have a slight advantage with video implementation coming from years of producing great camcorders

I hoping also that the addon video display would be made by nikon for future SLR's and just snap on the hot shoe and be powered up/connected just like the panasonic( http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicGF1/page6.asp ) one does without any wires. But for current models with video it would have to connected with wires to the camera and powered by its own battery

I didn't mean to imply that CMOS in general can't do 60 - I was trying to say that it is my understanding that any CMOS sensor which can read @ 60fps won't jello (or won't jello as bad) @ 24, and that the Sony sensors Nikon is using don't seem to be the fastest kids in class.

The Jello effect is there at all frame rates. I don't see it less or more.

I'm skeptical about Nikon's claim that the rolling shutter has been minimized with software. If you watch the Vincent Munier videos you'll see it in a quick panning shot while in the woods.

As for the complaining, I think it's human nature to find something to complain about. Politics, sports, weather, cameras it happens everyday all day. The internet makes it all "anonymous" so that's way you "see" it more. People will say things online that they wouldn't say to you in public.

I get to play with cameras all day. Whatever Nikon creates for me, I'm very happy and grateful for. Do I see faults in some of their products? Of course I do, but I'm not going to throw myself on the floor and spin in a circle crying about it.

I'd like to think that I've taken great pictures without AF, megapixels, 1080p video, or tack sharp lens over the years. I guess those who are "new" to the photography don't know what that was like so they complain about only having 720 video.

Sorry but there are more important things for me to worry about then why Nikon doesn't give me a D800 NOW TODAY!

Yeah, I don't know why people are so up tight about video. I see it more of a bonus. If you're looking into a DSLR to take some really serious video, you're looking at the wrong place, for the time being, that is.

Later, I don't know. But they only have minimal experience in it anyway. Give them a couple years.

I'm quite happy with the service Nikon's given me. I love the 35mm DX. The 85mm is truly bizarre though, to me, but hey, if you like it, go buy it. I'd rather go for the 105 micro.

The answer to the question "The D3s what could Nikon have done better" is nothing IMHO, they have done the best they could, and they have done it right.
Professional camera with highest available sensitivity, usable (I mean professionally usable video), that was the goal and that is what they have achieved very successfully.

The other day on my website blog I posted a photograph of a grasshopper, and I wrote in the post that it was one of the few moments I wished I had video in my DSLR. It was so fascinating watching it move on live view, and I would have loved to record it.

Oh well. Since video had made it to the Dx line, it looks like it will definitely be in my next camera.